『The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity | Luke 18:9-14 | The Prideful Always Look Down』のカバーアート

The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity | Luke 18:9-14 | The Prideful Always Look Down

The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity | Luke 18:9-14 | The Prideful Always Look Down

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The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity August 16, 2026 Luke 18:9-14 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, C.S. Lewis once wrote in his book Mere Christianity, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” This quote brilliantly captures what pride does to the heart of man, how pride leads man to believe he is superior to others, even idolizing himself and making himself into a god. Which of course, distracts one from having faith in the one true God. Well, the Gospel today is about pride and humility. Jesus teaches a simple lesson through contrasting figures, and if you want to know the meaning of the Gospel, just go to the last verse, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” But to begin to understand the entire text, let’s start at the beginning of the Gospel reading as we heard, Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: The Gospel began with Jesus telling a parable. A parable is a short, simple story that typically teaches a moral, spiritual, or religious lesson. It uses everyday situations and human characters to explain a deeper, harder-to-understand truth by placing a familiar idea side by side with a new concept. When Jesus tells a parable, He does so to teach truths about the kingdom of heaven. This parable teaches that the holier-than-thou attitudes of the Pharisees won’t lead them to heaven. Instead, their trust in themselves, belief that they are more righteous than anyone else, and despising others will prevent the Pharisee from being brought into heaven. For the Pharisee, this high view of themselves is how they see the world around them. It’s a worldview that sees others as worse off and, in many ways, is built into who they are, prompting them to look down on others with disregard. Alright, so who is being compared to the Pharisee in today’s Gospel? Jesus went on to say, “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. (Luke 18:10) In this verse, Jesus now presents the identities of both men; besides the Pharisee, we have a tax collector. Remember, tax collectors were not seen as good men. They were Jewish men who worked for the Roman Empire and were therefore viewed as traitors. It was often believed they skimmed money from the top for themselves. But here we are with two men coming to the temple of God. The temple is an important location throughout Scripture. At the beginning of Luke’s gospel, Jesus was brought to the pinnacle of the temple, where Satan tempted Him to throw Himself down. But the temple is also mentioned near the end, when Jesus is crucified. The temple is where God’s presence resides. When Jesus came to the temple in last week’s gospel and cleansed it by throwing out those who treated the place as a den of thieves, He was foreshadowing what was to happen through His crucifixion and resurrection. Not only would the temple now become obsolete, but the kingdom of heaven, of peace, forgiveness, and eternal life, would reside in Him, the true temple of God. So now the question might be, how does one approach and enter the presence of the temple of God? In verses 11-12, the Gospel said, The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ Luke 18:11-12) Alright, both men have come into the presence of God in the temple, and now we hear the Pharisee’s prayer, which isn’t odd because prayers were often spoken aloud. Speaking prayers aloud can be a good thing, too. This exercise can provide additional focus to your prayers and ensure your mind doesn’t wander during prayers. We don’t pray like this because, for one, we’re afraid others will hear our prayers. We also don’t want people to think we’re weird for praying aloud or in public, so we allow our faith to be completely silenced and just don’t pray at all. Which is wrong. But back to the Pharisee, he’s praying aloud for all to hear what a good guy he is; maybe he’s trying to impress those around him. The image you see is a man who believes he’s better than others and is an elitist. With all the “I’s” he says, he’s sure happy to not be like the others, and he sure gives thanks to God for himself. What a guy! The Pharisee is very thankful to not be like the extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. He does his good works by fasting twice a week and giving tithes of all he receives. What a guy! It’s almost as if the Pharisee is justifying himself. If this were a court case or trial, he’d be presenting the evidence to the ...
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